Ex-Israeli PM Ariel Sharon still comatose 4 years after stroke
Pastor Dale Morgan
*Ex-Israeli PM Ariel Sharon still comatose 4 years after stroke*
By IAN DEITCH,
Associated Press Writer - Monday, January 4
JERUSALEM � Ariel Sharon, the tough army general turned premier who
shocked his hawkish supporters by pulling Israel out of Gaza in 2005, is
still lying unconscious in a hospital bed, friends said Sunday on the
fourth anniversary of the massive stroke that put him in a coma.
Sharon, 81, led Israel from 2001 until the January 2006 stroke that left
him comatose.
Dov Weisglass, a close friend of Sharon and his former spokesman, told
The Associated Press on Sunday that Sharon's vital signs are good but it
was not clear if he would ever regain consciousness. Medical experts
have said that is most unlikely.
Sharon was a daring army officer who reached the rank of major general
In the 1970s, sometimes disobeying orders from his superiors. After
leaving the army, Sharon turned to politics, becoming a hawkish lawmaker
in the Likud Party and an enthusiastic supporter of the movement to
settle the West Bank with Israelis.
He served in several Cabinet posts, including defense minister. He was
the architect of Israel's disastrous war in Lebanon, which began in 1982.
The next year he was forced to resign by an Israeli commission of
inquiry that found him indirectly responsible for the massacre of around
800 Palestinians at the Sabra and Chatilla refugee camps by Lebanese
Christian militiamen.
Resurrecting his political career, he was elected Israel's prime
minister in 2001.
Turning his back on his uncompromising ideology in 2005, Sharon
unilaterally withdrew all Israeli settlers and soldiers from the Gaza
Strip, ending Israel's 38-year occupation of the territory and daily
clashes between settlers and soldiers with Palestinian militants.
Outraged hawkish backers abandoned him, and Sharon created a new
centrist party, Kadima, to run in March 2006 elections.
Riding a wave of popularity, Sharon appeared to be well on his way to
re-election when he suffered a stroke on Jan. 4, 2006.
Doctors fought to keep him alive after severe hemorrhaging that caused
significant brain damage, performing a number of desperate operations to
stop the bleeding but leaving him in a vegetative state. Several months
later, he was moved to a long-term care facility outside Tel Aviv.
Raanan Gissin, another close friend of Sharon and former spokesman, told
the AP that Sharon is not connected to a respirator but sometimes needs
an oxygen mask at night. "There is still no change physiologically. His
body functions but he has still not regained consciousness," Gissin
said. "Who knows if he can hear or not."
Gissin said he visits Sharon often, as does Sharon's family and former
staff, including a driver. "Our hope is that he will regain
consciousness one day," he said. But there are few cases of patients
emerging from deep comas after such a long time.